1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to processing of green peanuts, and more particularly to apparatus for removing the stems from green peanuts and washing the peanuts to remove dirt from the shells.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There is a large market for green peanuts from which boiled peanuts are produced. Conventionally, such peanuts are manually harvested by digging up the peanut vines in which the peanuts cling to the roots of the vines. Manual labor is then utilized to pick the green peanuts from the vines and to deposit them in field boxes. When the peanut is green, the stem is firmly attached to the end of the peanut. During the picking operation, the stem is most likely to be broken loose from the root rather than from the peanut, leaving stems of various lengths still attached to the peanuts. In harvesting the peanut vines and roots, unavoidably a large amount of soil adheres to the roots. Although an attempt is made by the pickers to knock off soil, the picked peanuts invariably have damp soil clinging to the still damp shells. In the past, it has been the practice to deliver the picked and dirty peanuts to the packing house and to have additional labor manually remove the stems and wash the peanuts in tubs of water. This process is slow, costly in labor, and results in a poor quality of packed green peanuts. The value of the packed peanuts is determined to great extent by the cleanliness and freedom from stems.
There has been a long felt and unfilled need for apparatus which will effectively removes stems from the peanuts at a high rate, which will thoroughly wash essentially all of the soil from the shells and which will automatically pack the peanuts in crates or hampers, thereby eliminating manual destemming, washing and packing.